Adjunct Project Manager

Adjunct Project Manager – Radiation Shielding & Nuclear Materials

Location: Oak Ridge, TN / Remote
Employment Type: Full-Time
Experience Level: Early Career
Department: Engineering / Technical Programs

Position Overview

Becq is seeking a highly organized, technically capable Adjunct Project Manager to support projects involving radiation shielding, advanced materials development, and the design of radioactive materials transportation and containment systems (handling radioactive materials will absolutely not be a part of this job).

This is an early-career development position designed for an engineer who wants to build a career in technical project management, engineering, or nuclear technology. The successful candidate will work closely with senior engineers, project managers, and company leadership while learning how complex technical projects are planned, executed, documented, and delivered.

Initially, this position will involve a significant amount of project coordination, documentation, data organization, purchasing support, meeting preparation, schedule tracking, procedure compliance, and other hands-on project support activities. As the employee demonstrates technical competence, organization, judgment, and reliability, responsibilities will progressively expand into project management and/or technical engineering responsibilities.

This is not a position for someone who wants to immediately manage projects independently. It is an opportunity to learn the business from the ground up and develop into a technical project manager or engineer.

Primary ResponsibilitiesProject Management & Coordination

• Assist project managers and technical leads with day-to-day execution of engineering and R&D projects.
• Maintain project schedules, action-item lists, deliverable trackers, and project status reports.
• Track project milestones, deadlines, budgets, purchase orders, subcontractors, and deliverables.
• Coordinate meetings and document decisions, assignments, and follow-up actions.
• Follow up with team members to ensure assigned actions are completed on time.
• Help identify schedule, technical, procurement, and resource issues before they become problems.
• Maintain organized project files and ensure required documentation is complete and readily accessible.
• Assist with preparation of customer deliverables, presentations, reports, proposals, and technical documentation.

Technical Project Support

• Support projects involving:
• Radiation shielding design and analysis
• Radiation shielding materials development
• Polymer, composite, ceramic, metal, and other advanced materials
• Radioactive material packaging and transportation containers
• Nuclear material containment systems
• Testing and qualification programs
• Engineering analysis and design
• Nuclear and radiological applications
• Assist engineers with collecting, organizing, and documenting technical data.
• Support laboratory, materials testing, fabrication, and qualification activities.
• Help coordinate testing with internal personnel, laboratories, vendors, and subcontractors.
• Review technical documentation for completeness and consistency.
• Learn to understand technical requirements, specifications, drawings, test plans, and engineering calculations.

Documentation & Quality

• Maintain exceptionally organized project documentation.
• Prepare and maintain meeting minutes, action-item logs, project trackers, test records, correspondence, and other project records.
• Follow company procedures and quality requirements precisely.
• Assist with document control and configuration management.
• Ensure project documentation is completed correctly and maintained in accordance with company requirements.
• Support preparation of procedures, work instructions, test plans, reports, and other controlled documents.
• Identify missing, inconsistent, or incomplete information and bring it to the appropriate person's attention.
• Develop a strong understanding of quality requirements applicable to nuclear and technically regulated work.

Procurement & Vendor Coordination

• Assist with preparation and distribution of RFQs.
• Track quotations, purchase orders, vendor commitments, and delivery dates.
• Communicate with vendors regarding technical information, schedules, documentation, and deliverables.
• Maintain procurement and supplier records.
• Assist engineers and project managers in obtaining materials, components, testing services, and technical services.

General Project Support

Early responsibilities will include whatever is necessary to keep projects organized and moving, including:

• Updating spreadsheets and project trackers
• Organizing files and records
• Formatting and proofreading documents
• Preparing meeting materials
• Taking meeting notes
• Following up on action items
• Collecting information from team members
• Updating schedules
• Preparing purchase requests
• Tracking shipments and deliveries
• Coordinating meetings
• Maintaining project folders
• Preparing status reports
• Supporting proposals and customer deliverables
• Performing other administrative and technical support tasks as assigned

No task is considered "beneath" this position. The expectation is that the employee will learn how the company operates by participating in the details of project execution before taking on greater responsibility.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in:
• Nuclear Engineering
• Materials Science & Engineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Industrial Engineering
• or another closely related technical discipline.
• Strong technical aptitude and willingness to learn highly specialized nuclear and radiation-related technologies.
• Exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to follow established procedures and instructions precisely.
• Strong documentation and recordkeeping skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines simultaneously.
• Ability to work independently while knowing when to ask questions or escalate an issue.
• Professional, dependable, and accountable approach to work.

Preferred Qualifications

• Internship, co-op, research, or work experience in nuclear engineering, materials, manufacturing, radiation protection, engineering, or a related technical field.
• Experience with engineering documentation or quality systems.
• Familiarity with project management principles.
• Experience working in a laboratory, manufacturing, R&D, or engineering environment.
• Familiarity with nuclear industry requirements or quality standards such as NQA-1 or ISO 9001.
• Experience with Excel-based project tracking, scheduling, or data analysis.
• CAD, engineering analysis, materials testing, or laboratory experience.

What We Are Looking For

The most important qualifications for this position are organization, reliability, technical aptitude, attention to detail, and attitude.

The ideal candidate:

• Is extremely organized.
• Naturally creates order out of chaos.
• Keeps excellent records and documentation.
• Does not let action items fall through the cracks.
• Follows procedures even when nobody is watching.
• Notices when something is missing, inconsistent, or incorrect.
• Is comfortable doing detailed and repetitive work.
• Is willing to perform administrative tasks as part of learning the business.
• Asks good questions and learns quickly.
• Can communicate professionally with engineers, technicians, vendors, customers, and leadership.
• Takes ownership of assigned work.
• Can be trusted to complete tasks accurately and on time.
• Wants to develop into a technical project manager, engineer, or technical leader.

Career Development

This position is intentionally structured as a developmental role.

During the first phase, the employee will focus heavily on learning company procedures, documentation requirements, project execution, procurement, technical terminology, and the fundamentals of our products and technologies.

With demonstrated performance and increasing technical understanding, the employee may progress toward responsibilities such as:

• Independent project management
• Technical project leadership
• Engineering analysis
• Materials development
• Testing and qualification
• Customer technical coordination
• Proposal development
• Program management
• Technical leadership

The ultimate career path will depend on the individual's strengths, interests, and demonstrated capabilities.

Work Environment

This position will involve a combination of office, engineering, laboratory, and manufacturing environments. The employee should be comfortable working with both technical personnel and hands-on operations personnel and should expect to occasionally visit laboratories, manufacturing facilities, testing sites, and vendor facilities.

Because our work involves nuclear technology, radiation shielding, advanced materials, and radioactive material containment, accuracy, documentation, and procedural discipline are critical to everything we do.

Key Performance Expectations

Success in this role will initially be measured by the employee's ability to:

• Keep projects organized.
• Complete assigned tasks accurately and on time.
• Maintain excellent documentation.
• Follow company procedures.
• Keep project managers and engineers informed.
• Proactively follow up on outstanding items.
• Learn technical concepts quickly.
• Take increasing ownership of project responsibilities.
• Demonstrate sound judgment about when to act independently and when to escalate an issue.
• Progressively require less supervision as technical and project-management capabilities develop.

Pay: $37.90 - $40.00 per hour

Expected hours: 16.0 – 40.0 per week

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Flexible schedule
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Professional development assistance
• Retirement plan
• Tuition reimbursement
• Vision insurance

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Oak Ridge, TN 37830